Pope Francis Continues to Do Whatever He Wants, Because He’s the Pope

Much has been made of the fourth quarter of Barack Obama’s presidency (speaking with Cuba, Iran, executive action on immigration—the list goes on), but he’s not the only world leader flipping the script. Pope Francis, who last month angered Turkey by describing the 1915 massacre of Armenians a “genocide,” continues to march to the beat of his own holy drum. This week’s newsbreak: the Vatican recognized the state of Palestine.

The new treaty focuses on church activities within Palestine’s borders. Though the Vatican had hailed the United Nation General Assembly’s 2012 recognition of the state of Palestine, the treaty marks the first time the Holy See has reached an agreement with the Palestinian state, as opposed to the Palestine Liberation Organization, the party with which it used to form agreements.

"Yes, it's a recognition that the state exists," Vatican spokesman Reverend Federico Lombarditold the A.P., though the pontiff’s office worked to downplay the significance of the shift by pointing to its praise of the 2012 U.N. decision.

The agreement immediately drew condemnation from Israel. “This move does not promote the peace process and distances the Palestinian leadership from returning to direct and bilateral negotiations,” a representative of the Israeli Foreign Ministry texted to the A.P., noting that Israel was “disappointed” in the decision.

The United States and Israel strongly oppose recognizing Palestinian statehood. Their position is that doing so imperils the so-called and forever halting peace process that would, in theory, involve negotiations surrounding the contours of a Palestinian state. A number of Western states have adopted the U.S. position, though many have indicated that should the peace process continue to stall, they’re prepared to recognize Palestine as a state.

The treaty was not the only bold move from the Holy See this week. One of the Pope’s top advisors, Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, ripped into climate-change deniers in the United States.

The pontiff has taken a strong position on climate change, and will release an encyclical letter focusing entirely on the issue this summer. The document, which no one outside of the Vatican has seen or read, has already drawn criticism from a number of U.S. groups.

“The ideology surrounding environmental issues is too tied to a capitalism that doesn’t want to stop ruining the environment because they don’t want to give up their profits,” said Maradiaga, according to The Boston Globe’s Crux blog.